DJ Dangerous

50 minutes ago, JasonB said:

The coupler looks like it's been on steroids.

Ha!

Maybe not super high fidelity ballast wagons but could be of interest to some:

https://www.adverts.ie/models/model-irish-rail-ballest-wagons/16241782?touch_off

5 minutes ago, JasonB said:

Strangely enough, 073 and 085 were the first 071 class models I bought when the IR/IE liveries were released. Both are now gone, they were moved on for unweatherd versions, which i hope to tackle myself eventually. Something just never looked right about them to me, but that's just my opinion.  

You see, I've seen your workbench thread, so there is hope for you when it comes to weathering...

Fancy doing some weathering in the sun for me???

12 minutes ago, Warbonnet said:

We find factory weathering broadly poor and it detracts from the model for us, so we dont do it. Lots of talented guys out there that will take on the weathering jobs as a commission though to do it for you! 

Maybe I can trade some sun holidays for some nice weathering, so!

4 minutes ago, mphoey said:

1463 is still around with the RPSI

So there is hope, for one day!

Do any 1950's Laminate coaches exist in good condition today, for survey purposes?

For me, it'll be another thirty years before I retire from work and start weathering, and that's quite a long time to be looking at shiny stock, thinking "Ah sure only another 29 years and 350 days and I'll start weathering this" ...

That's why I think that light factory weathering of some models is a nice option. Those who wan't super-detailed can always weather it much more.

After running 073 and 085, the other 071's are just missing something, in comparison.

I'm curious about factory weathering. I notice that Murphy Models released weathered 141's and 071's, but not 201's nor 121's.

Is there any reasoning behind that? 073 and 085 are by far my favourite MM 071's, but were they poor sellers or something?

IRM thus far haven't released any weathered stock, but maybe with the advent of Noel's favourite PW yellow stock hitting the rails, weathered options may be attractive to some folk?

From a buyers perspective, what do people prefer?

Personally, and in particular for brighter stock (if somebody some day releases silver Laminates for example), I much prefer stock that's lightly weathered from the factory.

Hardcore weatherers can still super-weather the stock even further, and the light factory weathering adds a level of realism to the layouts of the Simpletons like me.

Just now, BosKonay said:

Perhaps it’s something a crowdfunding type model may work for but we’ve our hands exceedingly full for the next year or two

Yeah, that B&I ferry must be a huge project.

Wanted: Extremely Patient Angel Investor with a few hundred grand for tin vans and GSV's...

I think that the downside to the van is that there'd only be one per rake, whereas with the other coaches, you could have four, six, eight or whatever per rake, yet the manufacturer would only need two different moulds to shift those eight coaches.

So with a van, one sale per rake per mould, and with the coaches, four sales per rake per mould.

Not knocking the vans in any way, i understand the importance of them, just looking at it from a practical point of view.

A van might end up costing €150 whereas the coaches might only cost €60. All guess-work, yes, but probably close enough to the mark.

10 hours ago, jhb171achill said:

Indeed - yes, the livery mix is indeed good news - if, say, you’ve two types of carriage, but one of each green and black’n’tan, there’s 4 carriages in a train that aren’t the same!

So that summarises quite concisely what modellers could realistically hope for, while at the same time a manufacturer could aim to launch two different coach models in two different liveries without having too much cash tied up for too long?

Any videos of the 121 models running today?

16 minutes ago, Railer said:

A 1:76 scale AN-124 so we can model 201 being delivered.

Like this one?

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234944273-an-124-ruslan-in-172-scale-modelsvit-kit-finished/

11 minutes ago, Broithe said:

There's always clues in these posts...

I'm predicting buildings, starting with the Central Bank.

Don't be silly, it's the B&I ferry first.

25 minutes ago, mphoey said:

only thing is the bachmann green coaches and any kit built ones

Yeah, but those Bachmann green coaches only pop up every now and then, usually for silly money. The grey Bubbles will compliment my mini-rake of single-stripe Cravens.

19 minutes ago, Warbonnet said:

Only three packs of slate grey bubbles left everyone, last chance! https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/cement-bubbles/products/cie-grey-cement-wagon-multi-pack-i

That's my fault, but there's nothing else out there to run with a grey 121!

Awesome, thank you!

7 minutes ago, mphoey said:

some would have been green others in the early black tan as they were been repainted in this time period

So A46 and A55 would be the two for that particular era?

So the 121's were delivered in grey in December 1960 and January 1961, and lasted at least five odd years before being painted black?

Then the 141's were delivered in black in December1962?

So a black 141 and a grey 121 running at the same time would have been prototypical?

What livery would the A's have had between 1962 and 1966?

9 minutes ago, mphoey said:

but will paddy murphy do them as he was offically supposed to retire after the 121s or will irm be able to use the moulds

 

Would they then be IRMM coaches instead of IRM or MM?

1 minute ago, Warbonnet said:

It doesnt mean they wont be offered in a new run again though. The toolings exists, so "we have the technology" as they say!

If Arran were able to introduce a date filter on his site, eg start date and end date, that would make things even easier.

49 minutes ago, Noel said:

In fairness it is possible for most folk to have collected a complete train of the following until fairly recently for some models:

• RTR Tara wagons CURRENT
• RTR Fertiliser Wagons CURRENT
• RTR Bell 42ft containers CURRENT
• RTR Cement Wagons CURRENT
• RTR Ballast Wagons (future rerun not too far off perhaps) 
• RTR MM Mk2d Super Train Livery CURRENT
• RTR MM Cravens (available at sane prices up to about 18months ago)
• RTR Silverfox Mk3 coaches CURRENT
• RTR Silverfox 1950s laminate look-a-likes (2ft rule passes the duck test) Green or B&T Livery CURRENT
• RTR Chris Dyer respray Mk3 coaches CURRENT
• RTR Chris Dyer respary Mk4 Coaches  CURRENT
• RTR IFM Cement Pallet Wagons
• Kit MIR Cement Pallet Wagons CURRENT
• kir MIR Dopside Cement Pallet Wagons CURRENT
• Kit + RTR IFM Park Royals Green or B&T Livery CURRENT
• Kit + RTR IFM CIE Laminates Green or B&T Livery
• Kit JM Design brass overlays for Dapol RTR coaches (CIE 1950s coaches inc some ex-GSR) CURRENT
• RTR SIlverfox various GSVs, TPOs, HLVs CURRENT
• RTR IFM TPOs, HLVs,
• RTR D&M Models Deitrick Enterprise coaches (out of production) 
• Various Dapol + Bachmann RTR 2 axle vans resprayed and with CIE transfers CURRENT
• Kit Provincal Wagons Beet wagons (Bulleif 2 axle open corrugated wagons) CURRENT
• kit Provincal Wagons Double beet wagons (2 axle) CURRENT
• Bachmann RPSI mk2a Green (ebay)
• Bachmann mk2a intercity orange (ebay)
• RPSI (MM) Cravens Blue'n'Cream livery
• Dart ECM trains CURRENT

We've never had it so good thanks to Murphy Models who started the whole Irish scene off,  IFM, Silverfox, MIR, JM designs, and now IRM for taking up the baton and driving forward to new heights and an ever rapidly growing portfolio of superb Irish Models, Bill Bedford, Worsley, Bachmann, etc.  Give it time, more will come, some re-runs may happen in time, ebay can work if you are patient and wait for sensible deals and prices.

Personally I feel very fortunate with my timing when getting back into the hobby only 6 years ago. I do understand some ebay prices are high right now, but that won't last forever. Fortunately I managed to build up a fleet of baby GMs about 4 years ago never paying more than €120, and over time collected various 1950s coaches from DIY resprays to IFM kits + RTR, plus silver fox, etc. It was easiest to build up rakes of 1955-1970 goods wagons by kit bashing inexpensive Bachmann, hornby and Dapol RTR 2 axles wagons, later added to by Provincial Wagons resin kits plus IFM, not to mention IRM Cement wagons. I also have modern era freight wagons from IRM (eg 42ft, Tara's, Fertiliser, etc). The trains I run most of the time are 1955-1974 (ie before the CIE modernisation program, before uniform rakes of passenger or goods stock took over the railways).

 

My favourite era circa 1968

 

This rake is made up of different coaches and ones even have a modern Craven.

It is possible to model 1950s to 1970s

Ok a 'boob' here with a few tippex Cravens of the post 1987 IE/IR Era

 

A 'feast' thanks to fortunate timing 

A 'knock' special scene. East meets west, modern mk2d stock in the passing loops surrounded by older stock

Conclusion - We've never had it so good and IRM are only just getting started. You never know Bachmann looking over the fence at IRM's success may even inspire them to relaunch some models for the Irish Market in the future.

"If" I was granted 3 wishes by a fairy railway modeller it would be:

1. IRM CIE Park Royal mainline Coach B&T
2. IRM IR/IE Mk3 intercity coach
3. IRM 2 axle CIE H-Van

The glass is not half empty, nor is the glass half full, it is overflowing, thanks to the original catalyst and stimulus MM created and later raised and expanded by IRM

Sadly, most of the RTR stock that you have listed is not current.

Tara's, Cravens, Fertilizer wagons, Container Liners, Ballasts etc are NOT available.

Private sellers will pop up with things from time to time, usually asking for three times the real value, but as there are no guarantees, they can't be considered "current".

Even the Super Train Mk2D's that are available have no EGV's available to match, so they're only borderline current stock.

From an RTR perspective, we NEED new coaching stock released for the A's and 121's. That's kind of where this thread was aimed.

The pallet is probably destined for Murphy Models, who'll break it down and ship to distributors.